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102 LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 4.17 Eight Not-So-Great Derby Winners Winning the Kentucky Derby does not automatically make you a great horse. Consider this fact among recent winners: In their 24 post-Derby starts, Giacomo (2005), Mine That Bird (2009), Super Saver (2010) and Orb (2013) had just a single win between them. Hardly the mark of greatness. Super Saver (2010) With just the Derby win to his credit in five starts as a three-year-old, Super Saver got a big assist from a muddy track and a patented rail-skimming trip from jockey Calvin Borel. Come to think of it, those exact same words could be said about Mine at Bird a year earlier — a true testament to the fearlessness of Cajun-born "Bo-rail." Giacomo (2005) He was really nothing more than a late- running type who benefitted from a pace meltdown. Champion Afleet Alex came back to smoke Giacomo in the Preakness and Belmont, and Giacomo won just three of 16 career starts, including one for eight after the Derby. Gato Del Sol (1982) Every dog has his day, and so, too, did the cat of the sun. is horse was a plodder who beat one of the weakest Kentucky Derby fields of the modern era. Dust Commander (1970) At the 1970 Derby, Hunter S. ompson was etching ideas for his famous essay, "e Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved," when Dust Commander became the only horse born in Illinois to win the big one, despite a career otherwise lacking in significant accomplishments (eight wins in 42 starts). Donerail (1913) e answer to a trivia question, Donerail is the biggest longshot to wear the roses, returning $184.90 on a $2 bet — and, no, you won't find anything close to those odds this Derby Day. As for Donerail, he was not only a Derby winner, but also a patriot, finishing his days siring horses for the U.S. Army Remount Service. Mine That Bird (2009) At his best, he was pretty good, but it's just that he wasn't very good for very long. e second-biggest longshot to win the Derby looked much slower than his rivals on paper prior to springing the upset. He ran a respectable second in the Preakness and third in the Belmont, but his 0-for-9 record after the Derby speaks loudly. Apollo (1882) It's hard to pick on a horse born 14 years after the conclusion of the Civil War, but Apollo shows no other major wins in his 52-race career. By age five, he was a retired saddle horse for a friend of the owner's wife. Stone Street (1908) is poor guy recorded the slowest time — by far — in Kentucky Derby history at just a tick over 2:15 and never won a major race other than the Derby despite 92 career starts. e annals show the track was quite muddy on the first Saturday in May of 1908, but mathematically speaking, Stone Street would have finished almost 80 lengths behind Secretariat.